‘Only my handler knew I was an undercover agent’ – Brown Mogotsi

Infiltration of ministers’ offices, undercover lies and dangerous information are missions thatBrown Mogotsisaid he had undertaken that were known to his handler alone. He added that he has no trace in the system beyond months of registration in 2001/2009 as an informant due to safety concerns. Mogotsi was testifying on Monday before theAd Hoc Committee, and said there would be no evidence of operations he was in despite his fighting corruption on classified missions.

He told MPs that his absence fromCrime Intelligencedatabases should not be interpreted as proof that he never worked for the unit, saying secrecy was a core part of intelligence operations. “Only handlers know their agents. You are never introduced to a room of people, and you are never presented on a system that everyone can access,” Mogotsi said.

“If during an operation I stood up and said I was a crime intelligence agent, I would be dead. There is absolutely no way an agent can survive under those circumstances,” he said. Brown Mogotsi said he was registered as a criminal intelligence agent in 2001.

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“I was registered as an informant in 2001, and I was later deregistered when I was no longer active in that role. When I became a contact agent, the process was completely different. That registration is manual.

The file is kept by your handler, and all reimbursements or payments are handled directly through the handler, usually in cash.” Mogotsi said he was recruited byLt-General Sindile Christopher “Pitso” Mfaziin December 2020 and that when he passed, he was given an instruction to lie low. Mogotsi also addressed criticism from MPs that he described himself as a politician or government employee in sworn affidavits, saying this was part of a recognised intelligence method known as “legend building”. “You are not carried with one title.

As an agent, you create a false life to attain the objective of the operation, provided your handler is aware of it,” he said. “If I did not tell that individual I was working from the minister’s office, there would have been no trust and no cooperation. The operation would have failed.

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